Tag Archives: carter

Trump is by far the most unusual President I have experienced in my 58 years on this planet. That said, I wanted to take a look back at the various Presidents during my lifetime and attempt to recall public sentiment, events of the day and facts that are not widely known or shared. And in the process set the stage for looking through the presidential prism at our current President Donald Trump. Here are my thoughts:

JFK: I was born shortly before JFK took office. My assessment is truly based on partial memories and gossip amongst friends, family and on TV. JFK was an extraordinary president. He looked presidential, he acted presidential… he was President in all aspects. He seemed to always be on his “game”. He made some blunders, i.e. “Bay of Pig”, but while BOP was an embarrassment for the USA, JFK stared down Krushev during the Cuban missile crisis, and Krushev blinked. From a foreign policy standpoint, JFK was steely. He cut taxes as if he were a Republican because he understood economic growth and its relationship to tax rates. If you were an unsophisticated rube back in those days, you might fall prey to a 70% tax bracket so Kennedy’s tax cuts were needed for more than purely economic reasons, his tax cuts were needed to reduce the absurdly progressive tax code that was nothing less than confiscatory. I believe Kennedy was a rare quality as I believe he was transformational. He embraced NASA, he established the Peace Corp. He was young and vibrant and except for the “cold war” scares, I believe the citizenry were pleased with Kennedy. He ushered in a new era… a change from the old white male guard, to a new generation that largely had not experienced the depression… and many had not even experienced WWII. In my lifetime, JFK the greatest national tragedy, but his legacy lives on even today albeit it has been diminished. And while only 3 years old when JFK was murdered, I remember the bleak black and white TV broadcast of JFK’s funeral. It was an eerie time in the United States. The public was nervous about what was going on… you had BOP, you had Cuban Missile Crisis, you had JFK’s assassination conspiring to create a unnerving sense of tragedy. And then RFK and MLK were murdered in the coming years… all conspiring to create sense of trepidation throughout much of the 60’s. Ironically LBJ picked up the pieces from JFK, despite JFK noticeably did not care for LBJ. Often RFK was more involved in governing than LBJ yet RFK was only attorney general.

LBJ: LBJ was the tallest President at 6’4 1/2” inches about 1/2 inch taller than Lincoln. He was a mean hard-ass bastard from what I’ve read. It was his way or else. He was crude, vulgar and sometimes disgusting, unrelated to his Texas roots. Texans are not such as he. But he had a vision of eliminating poverty which the term “Great Society” was coined. And he bamboozled MLK on civil rights legislation, but to his credit he did pass civil rights legislation which was part of JFK’s legacy. But in summation, LBJ while not personally transformational, left a lasting mark on this country that we today suffer from particularly in the black and Hispanic communities. I reference the “Great Society”. LBJ’s sweeping poverty campaign changed the family dynamic. Before his welfare reforms, families took care of families particularly the young folk. Out of wedlock births were frowned upon and some were chastised for their indiscretions. No racial class exceeded 15% out of wedlock births. But LBJ’s legislation put government smack dab in the middle of the nuclear family. No longer did families have to take care of families. Now the government could offer an alternative in the form of welfare. Suddenly, out of wedlock births began rising. The welfare roles increased… not dramatically but signs were there. I contend once the government began taking care of families, i.e. kids having babies, rather than families taking care of families, we lost the war on poverty and began the creation of generations of children having children. We as a Country were okay with “out of wedlock” babies and fatherless homes. With the benefit of welfare, young mothers could have out of wedlock children and Uncle Sam would pay for it. It was still frowned upon, but young women could simply leave home and start families without the benefit of family values. And it was this loving family that instilled the notion that out of wedlock babies were not to be tolerated. Today we are suffering from LBJ’s legislation. Today 70% of black children are born out of wedlock, Hispanic 50% and whites have reached 30%. This is a national tragedy. Where the FUCK are the fathers?

Nixon: For starters Nixon looked like just another crooked politician. He was presidential, but didn’t always act presidential. He was peculiar looking and peculiar acting. My recollection is that Nixon was more of a Statesman than president. He opened up China to the western world which a monumental feat that we benefit from even today. But other than China, I really don’t recall any other notable events in Nixon’s presidency except WATERGATE and his appearance on “Laugh-in” a weekly comedy show similar to today’s SNL. I remember WATERGATE hearings consuming most of the day’s TV programming. It was a marathon of daily hearings. As I look back, Nixon may well have become a noteworthy president were it not for WATERGATE, but sadly he was vilified in the media and was dogged by special prosecutors and other life-long bureaucrats wanting his impeachment. Ultimately he resigned, but his only sin was covering up the WATERGATE break-in. He knew nothing about it in advance, he didn’t authorize the crackpot break-in, but he didn’t come clean. And ultimately it was his secretive nature that was his downfall. Had he come forward, like Reagan with Iran-contra, he may well have served 2 terms. Nixon would have destroyed Carter in a presidential race absent WATERGATE

Ford: I really can’t recall much of anything Ford did or didn’t do. He was a placeholder. He did pardon Nixon which was the right thing, but it cost him reelection. Ford almost lost the primaries to Reagan as Reagan was up and coming.

Carter: As President, he was merely a placeholder although the economy was decent, but it was failing miserable towards the end of his tenure. Further Carter allowed Iran to humiliate this Country for well over a year with hostages taken from the American Embassy. Carter made me feel our better days were behind us. We were being told to conserve gasoline and natural gas. Wear a sweater and turn your thermostat down was something I will never forget. I seem to recall a “fireside chat” where Carter talked with the American people. And he was wearing his sweater. He talked to us in such a way, that you truly felt the future was bleak. To add to this, we had the “hostage crisis”. Carter was brilliant intellectually, but as a leader he didn’t inspire anyone rather just the opposite. He can truly be called “the placeholder”.

Reagan: I did not vote for Reagan, instead being from blue collar roots, I voted for Jimmy Carter. Looking back it was hard to believe for me and for my entire family that we voted for Carter, but we did. We followed our parents and grandparents line of thinking where Democrats were for the workin’ man. Reagan came along and opened our eyes to the idea that “your only limitation is yourself”. And you didn’t need the government to help you to be successful. We embraced “self-reliance” over government reliance as we could see the impact of government in our lives and it wasn’t a net positive. Reagan inherited a severe recession from Carter and his solution was to cut taxes and the economy exploded. Reagan’s approach to the economy was coined “supply side economics” derived from Arther Laffer’s oddly shaped graph that showed how raising taxes actually decreased revenue and cutting taxes actually increased revenue. It was the same ingredient Kennedy had applied to a depressed economy 20 years earlier, but Kennedy never got accolades for his economic policies. Here are a couple charts that are instructional.

This chart shows each President’s highest single year GDP. GDP is the “gross domestic product” or in other words it is the dollar value of: personal consumption, goods produced, government spending, and services. These are added together to arrive at a GDP. Current GDP is nearly $20trillion of which 75% is personal consumption. Given this, public sentiment is paramount to a successful economy.

The above charts shows a couple things. First the average growth rate since WWII is 2.9%. Surprisingly few Presidents averaged this level. In more current times since 1990 only Clinton averaged more than 2.9%. Since Truman the lowest average GDP growth belongs to Obama. No one will tell you this, no one will believe this, but Obama’s economic policies led to the most anemic economic recovery since Truman. Even the much maligned GW Bush greatly exceeded Obama’s average growth rate. And keep in mind, GW had to drag the economy out of the abyss of 911. Most people forget that 911 crippled the economy as bad or worse than the recession of 2008 inherited by Obama. After 911 the economy fell flat on its face. Remember for 3 days air traffic was shuddered across the US. Bush dragged the economy back with tax cuts and while he had other debacles i.e. wars, that impacted the public’s sentiment and economic growth he was not the least effective leader in my lifetime.

To continue my Reagan assessment, I recall, during Reagan’s presidency, American’s were again proud which was immortalized in the song by Charlie Daniels “In America”… the song gives me chills even today as I remember it was a period of time where after years of malaise and negativity America was “back” again. Paste URL into your browser to see live version of song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kB7OR161-U.

Getting back to Reagan, he had a year that exceeded 7% GDP among one of the best of all Presidents since GDP was measured.

GDP growth fueled consumption and it became a viscous upward spiraling situation. We felt we could achieve anything. It was at this time I converted to being a conservative.

Arthur Laffers’ curve that showed the higher you raise taxes the less revenue you actually receive. The lower the tax rates actually generate more taxes due to economic growth.

I was now a believer in Reagan. I was not always supportive, but as my personal income began to climb, my perspective changed. I saw how insidious taxes were to my disposable income and personal wealth. I began to resent the government and my sense was that much of the money the government received was squandered, wasted, or stolen.

Below are what I recall as Reagan’s notable accomplishments

Ended the COLD WAR

He presided over a healthy growing economy with fairly low debt

Reduced regulations stimulating small business growth

Changed public sentiment from the Carter years where we were told we “can’t do” those things that made us Americans such as conspicuous consumption to an attitude where we “can do” anything we can dream. This is no small feat to rearrange the public’s perspective on the future. Optimism was abound.

Things I didn’t agree with

Amnesty for 3 million illegals.

Iran Contra affair where money from sales of guns to Iran was funneled to Contras to fight Nicaraguan government. This is from memory only will need to be validated

George H.W. Bush – Work in progress

Bill Clinton – My opinion of his presidency has taken a 180 from the time he left office. At the time he left office I felt he was a disgrace to the presidency… his affair with M. Lewinski was embarrassing for me as a parent. Trying to explain to a 10 year old son why Clinton was being investigated was not pleasant. And I did not at the time like his policies which were liberal leaning. But today, ignoring his affairs and sexual harassment of multiple women including a claim of rape, he was a good president. He didn’t destroy the economy like most modern day democrats and he pushed people off the welfare roles in record numbers. He presided over one of the best 8 year periods of economic growth since WWII. I am not sure that his policies had anything to do with the economic growth, but the key was he didn’t get in the way of the economy like future presidents in particular Obama. My personal wealth sky-rocketed and then abruptly was erased by the total collapse of the tech bubble… and Enron, and other billion dollar bankruptcies. Again, Clinton didn’t have anything directly to do with these economic events. In summary Clinton was acceptable to me as a governor of the economy and defense of this Country which is the primary obligation of the federal government. He was not exceptional nor transformational, but he was a good “placeholder”. Only his seemingly criminal advances against multiple women cause me to frown on his tenure as President. And today, with the many many accusations by countless women against men in high places for sexual harassment, I would not be surprised if Clinton is not sued again in civil court for damages. Paula Jones won $750k in a civil suit against Clinton which you will never hear in the media. The Clinton’s are immune from criminal charges, but if you believe some of the women’s accusations Clinton would be in serious jeopardy of criminal charges of rape in one instance. While these statements could be arguably unfounded and false, I cannot fathom why any woman would put themselves through the scrutiny of the liberal media then and now if there were not some truth to their stories.

George W. Bush – work in progress

Barrack Obama – For all the praise the liberal media heaped on Obama he actually ranks below Carter when you look at his overall performance.

Media list of Obama accomplishments:

Rescued the country from the Great Recession, cutting the unemployment rate from 10% to 4.7% over six years. NOT SURE WHETHER TO CONSIDER THIS EXCEPTIONAL, EXPECTED OR MEDIOCRE. WHY? WELL THERE IS NOTHING TO COMPARE TO. WHAT IF REAGAN HAD BEEN PRESIDENT, AFTERALL HE CAME IN DURING A RECESSION AND THE ECONOMY EXPLODED. CLINTON CAME IN AFTER A RECESSION AND THE ECONOMY EXPLODED. OBAMA’S ADMINISTRATION OVERSAW A RECOVERY, BUT WHEN YOU LOOK AT IT COMPARED TO OTHER RECOVERIES, YOU CANNOT ARGUE THAT IT WAS AN EXPLOSIVE OR EXCEPTIONAL RECOVERY. AND DURING THE 8 YEARS OF HIS ADMINISTRATION HIS HIGHEST YEAR OF GROWTH WAS 2.6%… and his average growth rate was a meager 1.5%. THE LOWEST OF ANY PRESIDENT SINCE WW2 and worse than Jimmy Carter and GW Bush. ANOTHER BAROMETER OF THE ECONOMY IS DEBT TO GDP RATIO. THE HIGHER THE DEBT THE BIGGER THE DRAIN ON GDP THUS LOWER ECONOMIC GROWTH. CHART SHOWS OBAMA’S RECORD

Signed the Aﬀordable Care Act which provided health insurance to over 2 million uninsured Americans. JURY STILL OUT AS TO SUCCESS. LIES WERE PERPETUATED ON THE PUBLIC IN ORDER TO PASS LEGISLATION. THE GREATEST LIES WERE: KEEP YOUR DOCTOR AND KEEP YOUR PLAN. BOTH CHANGED FOR MOST AMERICANS. OVERALL MORE COVERED, BUT COSTS FOR THOSE ALREADY COVERED SKY-ROCKETED WHILE COVERAGE DECREASED.

Ended the war in Iraq. VACUUM CREATED ISIS THAT KILLED THOUSANDS BY BARBARIC MEANS. NO MEANINGFUL EFFORT WAS MADE TO STOP THE GROUPS SPREAD. RED LINES WERE DRAWN AND OBAMA WAS TOO WEAK TO FOLLOW THROUGH WITH HIS THREATS OF RETALIATION. WEAK LEADER ON PAR WITH JIMMY CARTER.

Ordered for the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden – VERY IMPRESSIVE

Passed the $787 billion America Recovery and Reinvestment Act to spur economic growth during the Great Recession. HUGE MISTAKE ALTERNATIVES ABOUNDED THAT WOULD HAVE ACTUALLY HAD AN IMPACT. DID NOT SPUR MEANINGFUL ECONOMIC GROWTH.

Supported the LGBT community’s ﬁght for marriage equality. LGBT COMMUNITY IS LESS THAN 3% OF TOTAL POPULATION. FOR THE AVERAGE AMERICAN THIS HAD LITTLE TO NO MEANING. EFFORT WAS WASTED THAT COULD HAVE BEEN SPENT ON MORE IMPORTANT THINGS.

Helped put the United States on for energy independence by 2020 – ABSURD. OBAMA FOUGHT DRILLING ON FEDERAL LANDS AND KEYSTONE PIPELINE… BOTH IMPORTANT TO THE GOAL OF ENERGY INDEPENDENCE. FURTHER, OBAMA WAS AN ENEMY OF O&G INDUSTRY THROUGH USE OF NOT ONLY RESTRICTIONS ON FEDERAL LAND, BUT EPA REGULATION

Commuted the sentences of nearly 1200 drug oﬀenders to reverse “unjust and outdated prison sentences”. PROBABLY A GOOD THING AS FEDERAL SENTENCES ARE ABSURDLY TOO LONG FOR THE CRIME PARTICULARLY NON-VIOLENT CRIMES.

Began the drawdown of troops in Afghanistan – MISTAKE ADVANCES MADE IN AFGHAN WERE SQUANDERED AND AFGHAN IS SPIRALING BACK TO STONE AGES UNDER TALIBAN INSURGENCE

Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to re-regulate banking industry. AFTER NEAR ECONOMIC COLLAPSE IN 2008, DODD-FRANK WAS PASSED TO ENSURE THE LARGEST BANKS AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS HAD SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL RESERVES TO PREVENT LOSING POSITIONS IN DERIVATIVES AND OTHER EXOTIC FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS FROM BANKRUPTING A FIRM. TO COMPLY WITH REGULATION ADDED COSTS TO FINANCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE WHICH WAS PASSED ALONG TO CONSUMERS IN HIGHER BANKING COSTS. FURTHER, THE LAW REDUCED LENDING TO SMALL BUSINESSES AND CONSUMERS THUS STIFLING ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SHUTTING MANY POTENTIAL BORROWERS OUT OF THE MARKET. LAW IS BEING DISMANTLED BY TRUMP AS TOO COSTLY TO THE ECONOMY, TO CONSUMERS AND TO SMALL BUSINESSES PLUS MAKES OUR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS LESS ABLE TO COMPETE INTERNATIONALLY. YOUR HUMBLE CORRESPONDENT IS UNABLE TO MAKE A DEFINITIVE STATEMENT AS TO THE BENEFITS OR LACK THEREOF TO THIS LEGISLATION. MY INSTINCTS TELL ME THIS LAW IS NET POSITIVE AS IT REDUCES THE POSSIBILITY OF A FINANCIAL CALAMITY THAT COULD UNRAVEL THE WORLD ECONOMY.

Reversed Bush-era torture policies – NOT CLEAR THIS IS A NET POSITIVE FOR THE UNITED STATES. ONE HAS TO WEIGH AMERICAN LIVES AGAINST TERRORIST LIVES. FURTHER, TORTURE MUST BE DEFINED MORE CLEARLY. WATER BOARDING WITH DOCTOR SUPERVISION SEEMS REASONABLE IF IT SAVES AMERICAN LIVES AND WOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED TORTURE IN MY MIND

Began the process of normalizing relations with Cuba – NO CLEAR THIS IS A NET POSITIVE FOR UNITED STATES

Increased Department of Veteran Aﬀairs funding – NOT MEANINGFUL AS INCREASE FELL FAR SHORT OF WHAT WAS ACTUALLY NEEDED. CORRUPTION AND INEPTNESS STILL REMAIINED

Signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act

Boosted fuel eﬃciency standards for cars – NET POSITIVE FOR CLIMATE, NET NEGATIVE FOR CONSUMER AS COST TO IMPROVE STANDARD WILL BE VERY EXPENSIVE AND PASSED ALONG TO CONSUMER IN HIGHER COSTS.

Improved school nutrition with the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act – NOT MEANINGFUL IN THE SCHEME OF THINGS

Helped negotiate the landmark Iran Nuclear Deal – NOT CLEAR THIS WAS “LANDMARK” AS IT IS BECOMING CLEAR IRAN DECEIVED UNITED STATES ON THEIR PROGRESS IN NUCLEAR GRADE MATERIALS. AND IN THE MEANTIME IRAN IS WORKING TOWARDS GETTING ICBM CAPABILITY

Repealed the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy – NOT MEANINGFUL OR NECESSARY. CURRENT POLICY WAS WORKING JUST FINE.

He signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to combat pay discrimination against Women. NET POSITIVE TO EMPLOYEES AND WOMEN

Nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, making her the ﬁrst Hispanic ever to serve as a justice – NOT CLEAR THIS WAS MEANINGFULLY POSITIVE

Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 “for his extraordinary eﬀorts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”. DEMONSTRATES THE BIAS AND LIBERALISM OF NOBEL PRIZE. OBAMA’S EFFORTS WERE DIFFICULT TO QUANTIFY AND HIS EFFORTS WERE NOT IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE UNITED STATES. OBAMA SEEMED TO PROMOTE THE IDEA THAT AMERICANS WERE NOTHING MORE THAN GLOBAL CITIZENS AND A NORMAL PART OF THE WORLD FABRIC. POPPYCOCK… AS GOES THE UNITED STATES GOES THE REST OF THE WORLD. OUR ECONOMY DWARFS ALL OTHERS. AT A TAD SHORT OF 20 TRILLION GDP WE ARE NEARLY DOUBLE THAT OF CHINA WHO HAS 4 TIMES THE POPULATION AND RUSSIA PRESUMED BY THE AVERAGE PERSON AS BEING A LARGE ECONOMY IS BARELY 5% OF UNITED STATES GDP AT 1.25 TRILLION ANNUAL GDP. SO THIS GLOBAL CITIZEN NON-SENSE IS UN-AMERICAN… AND SHOULD BE POINTED OUT EVERY CHANCE WE GET. WE ARE THE WORLD LEADER… END OF STORY.

Launched My Brother’s Keeper, a White House initiative designed to help young minorities achieve their full potential – NOT MEANINGFUL TO AVERAGE AMERICAN

Expanded embryonic stem cell research leading to groundbreaking work in areas including spinal injury treatment and cancer – NOT CLEAR THAT THIS EXPANSION OF RESEARCH HAS HAD ANY MEANINGFUL IMPACT ON SPINAL CORD INJURY OR CANCER.

Signed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, making it a federal crime to assault anyone based on sexual or gender identiﬁcation. NOT MEANIGFUL TO AVERAGE AMERICAN.

Signed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals DACA allowing as many as 5 million people living in the U.S. illegally to avoid deportation. NOT CLEAR THIS WAS A NET ADVANTAGE TO UNITED STATES. FURTHERMORE, IT WAS UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND WAS REPEALED BY TRUMP IN FAVOR OF CONGRESS PASSING A LAW MAKING IT LEGAL. AS PART OF NEGOTIATION WITH CONGRESSS, TRUMP AGREED TO MAKE THESE PEOPLE PERMANENT CITIZENS BUT SCHMUCK SHUMER AND THE DEMOCRATS WOULD NOT AGREE BECAUSE TRUMP WANTED A WALL IN EXCHANGE. WALL OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORTED BY PUBLIC.

Donald Trump: Trump is clearly a wild card. He says things and does things that are uncharacteristic of a president. He does not allow any person or party or country to besmirch him, his policies or the United States. One must admit that his supporters are passionate… far far more passionate than any other President in my lifetime. He seems to be turning everything upside down. He has upset allies, antagonized enemies, and has changed the notion that American’s are “global citizens” but rather are “Americans” first and secondarily global citizens. His mantra is “America First” which does not sound far-fetched in the scheme of things. Let’s be honest, every Country in the world puts their interests FIRST, why shouldn’t the United States. Listening to Trump’s rhetoric one might be unnerved, but his rhetoric seems to be part of his shtick and is used to negotiate his policies. Why do I say this… Trump’s policies frankly are what we have needed since Reagan. Look at what he does rather than what he says and most Americans agree with his policies. Does anyone want the United States to continue to strangle business with needless regulations and anti-growth tax policies, cause businesses to leave money overseas rather than repatriating those monies to the US because of confiscatory tax rates, and allow unrestricted immigration of large numbers of the poorest and least educated people in the world? “Of course not” is the answer to the question posed. Sure we have been conditioned to say stupid things like; “Restricting immigration is against our values”. This is an absurd statement when you look at the history of the US in the 20th century. How much sense does it make to bring indigent people here to soak up our tax dollars at the expense of struggling Americans. And “chain immigration” and “lottery immigration” exacerbate an already out of control illegal immigration situation. Trump claims to have solved the Obamacare debacle, but he hasn’t. He did away with mandates which were the core requirement of Obamacare that gives it any chance of success. Obamacare is now too expensive and provides pathetic coverage. Obamacare should be changed to allow for greater access to creative medical policies that were widely available prior to socializing of medicine. Further, Trump is reinvigorating NASA which is a net positive. One CANNOT deny Trump’s tax cuts, NOT Obama’s policies have caused the economy to explode. Growth is approaching 4% after 16 months. One has to admit this is extraordinary or be in complete denial of the obvious. Unemployment is at the lowest points ever recorded for Blacks and Hispanics… in 60+ years of keeping stats. ISIS is but an asterisk in the history books under Trump. The media is relentless from my vantage point in trying to ridicule and criticize every statement or policy or law Trump says/proposes/enacts. For the first time in my life, I feel a positive patriotic feeling towards our Country. Standing at attention with hand over heart feels good again. And public optimism is at all time highs. Since Bush 43, I have felt a slow decline in morale of this Country. I feel Obama was a low point. I conclude Trump, unlike any President since Kennedy, Trump is transformational. But I would argue that Trumps lack of political acumen and tone deafness to political hackism, makes him He is transforming how the world looks and how we look at the United States. No longer are we oddly enough allowing every Country or special interest group to walk all over America. Who doesn’t applaud Trumps positive effects on the economy… I welcome comments, but I believe Trump is the right man for the times. Hillary Clinton would have been a fucking bona fide disaster and we all know it. Hell the woman is still litigating the election as if somehow Trump will step down and she can be coronated. Trump is transformational whereas most President have been placeholders governing the “aircraft carrier” called the United States, but simply governing is not what we need at this time and place. We need drastic change to throw out lifelong parasite politicians in favor of citizen politicians as the founders envisioned.

How sad it is, that now that Obama is President, for the first time in my nearly 50 years I am not proud of this country or our alleged political leaders.

As I look back over my life, I remember being a staunch Democrat when Carter was President, but even then I was not happy with Carter, but never was I not proud of my fellow Americans and the ideals of this Country. But admittedly, I did feel that possibly our better days were behind us, but I was still proud of our heritage and our citizens.

Then… an Actor named Ronald Reagan, who I did not vote for… was elected President, and his infectious enthusiasm lifted all our spirits. It didn’t matter whether you were a Democrat or a Republican or an Independent, we all again believed our better days lay ahead. We all believed again in our ability to accomplish anything. And it was Reagan who opened my eyes and millions of other Americans to Conservatism. Since then, I have never looked back. I have embraced the ideals of Conservatism which believes in the power of the individual to accomplish great things if the shackles of government were removed.

But now sadly, a malaise similar to the Carter years is overwhelming our country. But unlike Carter, Obama is an elistist egotistical man, who has decided he… rather than we citizens, knows best how to configure our future. To me, he inspires primarily those that have no goals in life, no ambition, no drive… instead he appeals to the mediocrity of our nature. And if you couple Obama’s uninspiring rhetoric with the utterly disgraceful leadership in Congress; it’s no wonder many of us staunchly proud American’s, have lost our pride.

So it seems the moment Michele Obama finally became proud to be an American just this past year, I lost my pride in almost everything American except our military. Frankly, not since the Carter years have I felt our better days are possibly behind us. But even back in the Carter years, while I thought our better days may have been in the past, I never felt that our entire way of life was in dire jeopardy.

But as I see it, the dramatic changes being proposed in healthcare, education, energy, social services, fiscal policy and budget priorities will in time negatively affect all aspects of our society and role in the world. What concerns me most is that once these policies become law or become institutionalized into the fabric of American society it becomes nearly impossible to correct… and they must be corrected otherwise, I fear our better days are truly behind us.

In closing, all I can say is: “don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for Obama”… and if you did, I hope you now see the folly of your vote. And if you now can see the peril in allowing the current Congress and the President to continue their unchecked efforts to change every aspect of our way of life, you will join me in voting against every single incumbent Congress person in 2010. We desperately need to “throw the bums out”, and replace them with citizen politicians rather than career politicians.

So Hear Ye: The time has come for “sweeping” and dramatic change in Congress. These people have fucked up this country to the point, many of us patriotic Americans are no longer proud of our Country and fear the worst has finally become truly possible. For that, these self-serving bastards need to be forever removed from Congress or any elected position. Congress is disgraceful!!!